Willie Nelson - People Quotes

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It didn't take long for me to realize that writing, performing and singing songs was what I was meant to do, but what other people thought was an entirely different issue. If I had to break it down, I'd say about 99 percent of the people in my life were telling me I wasn't going to make it. All that adversity and lack of faith ended up just strengthening my own convictions. All that negativity really helped me in the end, because there's no better inspiration for doing something than having somebody say that you can't do it.

Willie Nelson
Anybody can be unhappy. We can all be hurt. You don't have to be poor to need something or somebody. Rednecks, hippies, misfits — we're all the same. Gay or straight? So what? It doesn't matter to me. We have to be concerned about other people, regardless. I don't like seeing anybody treated unfairly. It sticks in my craw. I hold on to the values from my childhood.

Willie Nelson
You'll never get ahead by blaming your problems on other people.

Willie Nelson
We are the same. There is no difference anywhere in the world. People are people. They laugh, cry, feel, and love, and music seems to be the commons denomination that brings us all together. Music cuts through all boundaries and goes right to the soul.

Willie Nelson
I started it in 1973 to bring together different kinds of people, and that's still what we do. It's people drinking beer, smoking pot and finding out that they have things in common and don't really hate each other. Music gives people a chance to enjoy something together.

Willie Nelson
When I left Nashville I went to Texas because that's where I came from, and because I was playing in Texas a lot in different places. And I saw hippies and rednecks drinking beer together and smoking dope together and having a good time together and I knew it was possible to get all groups of people together – long hair, short hair, no hair – and music would bring them together.

Willie Nelson
In church I was told that if I so much as smoked a cigarette or tasted alcohol, I'd be damned in hell for all eternity[...]it didn't take long for me to start thinking that sounded all wrong [...]I didn't cotton to the idea that your religion should be flaunted to other people. Your religion is for you, and is best kept close to your heart.

Willie Nelson
Legalize weed. It's 50% of what's causing the problems along the border with the drug cartels. A lot of people who sell it want to keep it illegal because that's where the money is.

Willie Nelson
I have written more than 1000 songs, most of them never recorded. The timing wasn't right or whatever. The songs that became the hits don't tell the whole story. Most songs disappear without a trace. You never know how people will take to them, what will strike a chord. If you did, you'd always do it. You'd record only hits. No one can do that.

Willie Nelson
Too much of anything is no good. Too much alcohol, too much sugar. I think pot is a lot less harmful than alcohol for most people. What happens to people on pot? They get mellow! People who are drinking can get dangerous, but not people on pot.

Willie Nelson
Bob Wills taught me how to be a bandleader and how to be a star. [...] There was no time wasted between songs. I learned from him to keep the people moving and dancing. [...] The more you keep the music going, the smoother the evening will be. Another thing he taught me was people came and paid their money to hear what they wanted to hear. Even if Bob had a mediocre band that night, the people knew his records and his radio shows and they heard what they thought Bob Wills sounded like. Whether he had a good night or a bad night, every night was a good night.

Willie Nelson
I was six months old and my sister Bobbie was three years old when my parents divorced and gave us to my grandparents. I have no anger about my parents. They did us a favor. My grandparents were very reliable Christian people who gave us a good raising.

Willie Nelson